On a Friday afternoon in August of 2010, two Swedish women visited a police station in Stockholm, ostensibly to seek advice on how to compel a mutual sexual partner to take a test for HIV infection. When they emerged a few hours later, the police had transformed their health-related errand into serious accusations of rape and other sexual misconduct. The inevitable and almost immediate result was a global news sensation; for, the object of those accusations was Julian Assange, editor of WikiLeaks, the whistleblowing website that had become a major news force through its disclosures of unethical and criminal conduct by numerous governments, most particularly that of the United States.

Less than a day later, a senior prosecutor dismissed the most serious accusations as without foundation, leaving only a minor charge to be further investigated. But by then, the words “Assange” and “rape” had been linked in millions of headlines and articles. Over a year later, a web search with those two words yields some 35 million such linkages— and that is only in English.

It may therefore be assumed that, for millions and millions of people around the world, Julian Assange will be remembered as the famous man from Australia who went to Sweden and raped two women.

The dismissal of the original charges by an experienced Swedish prosecutor had little effect on the media frenzy, of course; and in any event, the interlude of declared innocence turned out to be short-lived. A politician-lawyer — in the midst of an election campaign, and having recently suffered a devastating blow to his legal reputation — persuaded another prosecutor to reinstate the charges, and managed to become the publicly financed advocate of the two women involved.

That set in motion a lengthy and convoluted process with many elements, including prosecutorial abuse, radical feminism, societal taboos, political opportunism, media stupidity and savagery, the looming threat of U.S. persecution, and more.

That story is recounted in a case history entitled Suspicious Behaviour which is available in PDF format via the following link: